Battle for UP: Huge haul of illegal arms by police

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police have seized a huge haul of illegal arms in Azamgarh, Ballia and Jaunpur and also unearthed manufacturing units as well as busted the gangs of smugglers and arms dealers.

Massive drives are being carried out in almost all the districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh in view of the Assembly elections.

According to police sources, in Azamgarh, an illegal arms factory was unearthed in the forest on the banks of river Hathiya under the limits of Sidhari police circle.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Azamgarh, Anurag Arya, said that Sidhari police were busy in a checking drive near Hydel colony when they were tipped-off about the arms unit, after which a raid was conducted on the banks of river Hathiya.

The two illegal arms manufacturers Jai Prakash Singh and Rajesh Ram were arrested, he said.

The police recovered 12 fully manufactured country made revolvers, partially made revolvers, seven live cartridges, furnish, blower, tools for arms manufacturing, parts and many other articles from the unit, he said.

During initial interrogation of the police, the duo confessed that they were preparing arms to meet the increasing demands of firearms during the Assembly polls. They said that they had chosen forest on the river bank to run their manufacturing unit as the area was rarely visited by people.

They also divulged the names of persons, who had procured illegal arms from them following which the police have intensified efforts to nab them.

Arya said that both the arrested arms manufacturers had long criminal history-sheets with the police.

Meanwhile, the joint team of ATS Varanasi field unit and Dubahar police station arrested five arms smugglers along with five country-made pistols, 10 magazines and a SUV in Ballia district.

SP Ballia Raj Karan Nayyar said that on a tip-off regarding the movement of arms smugglers in the Bihar bordering area, the ATS, along with the Dubahar police, cordoned Janeshwar Mishra bridge and intercepted a SUV.

On checking the SUV, five pistols and 10 magazines were recovered. The police arrested all five persons in the SUV and they have been identified as Anshu Kumar, Deepak Tiwari, Abhishek Kumar Rai, Amit Singh and Yogesh Rai, the SP said.

The arrested accused were bringing illegal arms from Bihar to supply in the poll-bound districts of the state.

In Jaunpur, the Sikrara police arrested one Ram Surat in the Ram Sahai Patti village and four arms suppliers, including Ashutosh Harijan, Abhishek Singh, Shiraj Singh and Ravi Gautam from Tahirpur area when they were busy in finalising an arms deal.

Superintendent of Police Jaunpur, Ajay Sahani, said that one factory-made pistol, four country-made revolvers and several live cartridges were recovered from their possession.